Syllabus

This syllabus is not final.  The full class, with policies, readings, and other material, will be available to enrolled students on the class Blackboard site.

Course Description:

Students will acquire a background knowledge of Venetian history, geography, demography, culture, and politics with special attention to how Venice has operated as a significant symbol — of an untouchable republic, of a militant mercantile nation, of a corrupt political system, of a decadently sexual culture, and of a dying empire — within various cultural media and artefacts of the Western world.

This course will satisfy the Core 21 requirement for 1 unit of participatory visual & performing arts for students who complete the post-travel portion of the course.

PRE-TRAVEL PHASE (2 units)

Required Material:

• Venetian Hunts & Puzzles ($30) — Save Venice — ordered through class; must be taken on trip
• Students will be required to purchase art material for this course, including a travel watercolor set to be taken on the trip (see Supplies), at an approximate cost of $100

CLASS SCHEDULE

Essential Italian phrases will be embedded into each lecture
OPTIONAL: Your professors will be holding a combination art studio/Italian language lesson session every Friday afternoon, where you can practice watercoloring and listen to Italian-language audio lessons. Come join us!

Week 1. Introduction to Semiotics & History of Venice: Origins to Renaissance
Assigned Readings:
•            Chandler, Semiotics for Beginners: Chapters 2 “Signs” and Chapter 7 “Denotation, Connotation & Myth” 

Week 2. History of Venice: Renaissance to 1797
Assigned Reading:
•            Norwich, A History of Venice, After the Fall
•            Baudrillard, Simulations — Part II: The Orders of Simulacra

Week 3. History of Venice: 19th Century
Assigned Reading:
•            Honour & Fleming, The Venetian Hours of Henry James, Whistler and Sargent
•             Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, Vol 2 Chap 8 The Ducal Palace
Assignments:
•            Turn in final paper topic

Week 4. History of Venice: 20th & 21st Centuries
Assigned Reading:
•            Berendt, The City of Falling Angels
•            Pemble, Venice Rediscovered, Chapter 6: Time’s Ruin

Week 5. Venice in Art: Learning from the Masters — Turner
Assigned Reading:
•           Duby, Pignatti & Lobrichon, The History of Venice in Painting (on library reserve)
Assignments:
•            Create  1 watercolor (in-class exercise)
•            Turn in bibliography of at least three sources for final presentation

Week 6. Venice in Art: Learning from the Masters — Sargent, Whistler, and Prendergast
Assigned Reading:
•            Duby, Pignatti & Lobrichon, The History of Venice in Painting (on library reserve)
•            Norwich, A Paradise of Cities, Chapter 11: Whistler and Sargent
Assignments:
•            Create  1 watercolor (in-class exercise)

Week 7. Venice in Art: From Photo to Painting
Assigned Reading:
•            Duby, Pignatti & Lobrichon, The History of Venice in Painting (on library reserve)
Assignments:
•            Create 1 watercolor from assigned photograph (in-class exercise)
•            Turn in 5 pages of free writing on final presentation topic

Week 8. Midterm

Week 9. Venice in Art: Photography
Week 9′s guest lecturer is tentatively scheduled to be Professor Brian Stethem from the Art Department
Assigned Reading:
•           Sontag,  “The image-world” & Bourdieu, “The social definition of photography”
Assignments:
•            Bring digital camera to class for art-photography instruction
•            Turn in thesis statement for final presentation

Week 10. Venice in Music & Architecture
Week 10′s guest lecturer is tentatively scheduled to be Dr. Wyant Morton from the Music Department
Assigned Reading:
•            Readings on Vivaldi and Palladio

Week 11. Venice in Literature & Drama: Militant and Mercantile
Assigned Reading:
•            Casanova, Historie de ma vie, Vol 10: Under the Leads
•            Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: Act III
•            James, Wings of a Dove
Assignments:
•            Turn in rough draft of final paper

Week 12. Venice in Literature & Drama: Libertine and Lewd
Assigned Reading:
•            Casanova, Historie de ma vie, Vol 8: Convent Affairs

Week 13. Venice in Literature & Drama: Decadent and Dying
Assigned Reading:
•            Mann, Death in Venice
•            Keahey, Venice Against the Sea, Chapter 4: Tides, Winds, and Global Warming & Chapter 5: Acqua Alta

Week 14. Venice Appropriated
Assigned Reading:
•            Sturken & Cartwright, Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture, Chap. 7: Postmodernism and Popular Culture
Assignments:
•            Turn in final paper

Week 15. Venice Commodified / Trip Prep

Finals Week:  Class Presentations (Pecha-Kucha)

EXTRA-CREDIT FIELD TRIPS, Spring 2011
(tentative)

•            LACMA: Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915 (October 2, 2010-April 3, 2011)
•            College Night at the Getty: The Grand Canal, Canaletto, Bellini, Belloto, etc.
•            March: Friday Open Studio: Make papier-mache Carnevale masks + decorate Carnevale masks
•            Field trip to Venice Beach, California for walking tour of canals & discussion of Venice as a marketing tool.